The present invention relates to an educational toy for children, and particularly for children ranging in age from 2 years to the first few primary grade ages. The present invention is particularly concerned with an educational toy which can be used to teach various basic skills, such as the alphabet, simple spelling, color identification, numbers, and simple arithmetic steps such as subtraction, addition, multiplication and division.
There are numerous known educational toys wherein one or more concepts or skills are reinforced or taught, which toys includes some type of board and a plurality of members or elements that can be selectively positioned on the board. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,077,677 discloses a word and alphabet game device which utilizes a board with recesses therein for accommodating removable pieces. U.S. Pat. No. 2,884,714 discloses an educational device for teaching spelling and arithmetic by the use of small removable pieces that are magnetically held in place on the board. U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,558 discloses an edcuational pegboard which includes recesses at one side thereof for accommodating pegs that can be removably inserted and arranged to form different patterns with templates being provided for selectively changing the effective recess pattern available in the pegboard. U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,312 discloses an educational game which utilizes a game board positioned in an upright position, which has question/answer templates selectively associated therewith for accommodating playing of question/answer games by children at opposite sides of the board utilizing pegs inserted into holes in the board. U.S. Pat. No. 2,695,462 discloses an educational toy for teaching arithmetic and numerical functions, and which includes detachable strips or templates, as well as apertures in the board and pegs insertable therein.
The known educational toys, as exemplified by the patents discussed in the preceding paragraph, have certainly aided in educating small children as to various simple concepts. However as a practical matter, many known educational toys are either too expensive, or too impractical in use, to satisfy all the requirements that such a toy should meet. Intentionally, or unintentionally, small children will bend, break, or smash, any toy or toy part that cannot withstand hammer blows, the weight of the child landing on the toy from the heighth of a chair or couch, the throwing thereof against a wall, against the floor or down the steps. Accordingly, the practical life of any toy or toy part that is not very ruggedly built is very short indeed. Once parents, teachers, or other potential purchasers of such educational toys have learned the lesson of how "indestructible" a toy must be, they will no longer purchase any toy having parts thereof that cannot withstand the use or "abuse" that the children will give the same. In practically all instances, those educational toys using relatively thin templates or the like will not survive the practical test of ruggedness.
Another disadvantage of many of the known prior art arrangements is that they are adaptable for only a single, or minimal number of concepts to be taught at a relatively fixed competence level such that they do not retain the child's interest for more than a limited time period. For example, an educational toy designed for small children under the age of two or three, is very unlikely to arouse the interest of even a five year old, and certainly not that of a six or seven year old. On the other hand, if the educational toy involves concepts that are comprehendible only by children in the primary school grades, it is extremely unlikely that such a toy would interest a two or three year old. An important object of the present invention is to provide an educational toy which does in fact have the adaptability to teach not only the simplest concepts, such as matching of colors and the simple physical step of placing a peg in the hole of similar shape, but also more complex concepts such as the alphabet, the numbers, spelling, and simple arithmetic, utilizing basically the same parts for teaching all of these concepts.
Another disadvantage of many known educational toys is that they are so expensive to make, and therefore have such a high price, that they are not readily marketable. The price at which such an educational toy can be sold is very critical to its commercial success, especially when one considers the above-discussed limited flexibility of the known educational toys insofar as being usable over an extended period of a child's development. Another important object of the present invention is to provide an educational toy which is not only rugged, but also simple and inexpensive to make, which thereby can be sold at a reasonable price.
Another drawback of many known educational toys, especially those involved in teaching spelling and arithmetic and the like, is that a very large number of very small pieces are involved. Such very small pieces are very difficult for a very small child, such as a two or three year old, to manipulate properly. Also, with very small pieces, the likelihood of some of them being lost, destroying the effectiveness of the game or toy as a teaching aid, is great. Also, such small toy pieces have a tendency to be distributed throughout the playroom, or the house, thereby creating clean-up problems. An important object of certain features of the present invention is to provide that the pieces to be manipulated by the child are sufficiently sized so as to accommodate physical handling by even a child as young as one year, and to also obviate the other mentioned problems that arise with very small pieces.
Another object of the present invention is to provide embodiments that can be used by blind children, as well as sighted children.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an educational toy wherein two different concepts, such as letters and numbers, can be learned separately from each other so as to avoid confusion, yet the two concepts can be interrelated so as to permit the child to utilize his knowledge of one concept to check and reinforce his knownledge and operations with respect to the other concept.
Still another object of this invention, in line with the previously noted object of being adaptable to teaching both simple and more complex concepts with basically the same parts, is to provide a toy wherein the child using it can learn or reinforce both rudimentary and more advanced skills on but a single side of a board.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention achieve certain of the above-noted and other objects by the provision of a board having a plurality of rows of holes extending completely therethrough with correspondingly cross-sectionally shaped pegs that fit loosely in the holes. In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, at least 26 such holes are provided, and the pegs have flattened surfaces at each end, with one end of the pegs bearing an imprint of a letter and the other end bearing the imprint of a number, with the respective letters A through Z and corresponding numbers 1 through 26 being provided. At one side of the board, respective letters of the alphabet are imprinted adjacent the openings to the through holes, while at the other side of the board, respective numbers are imprinted adjacent the openings to the holes. For use of the invention, a child need merely remove all the pegs, place the board on a table or any other flat backing surface, and depending upon whether the letters or numbers are facing upwardly, appropriately insert the respective pegs. In order to accommodate playing and exercise with the other of the alphabet and/or number set, the child need merely turn the board over and using the same set of pegs, but inverted, insert them in the respective appropriate numbered holes.
In particularly preferred embodiments, the pegs, as well as the rows of holes in the board, are colored or painted with respective different colors, such that the alphabet is split up into several subgroups, and such that the numbers 1 to 26 are also likewise split up into separate subgroups, denoted by color. With this arrangement, the child can associate the colors immediately with the set of five or six, for example, holes that the pegs belong in, thereby greatly simplifying the task of associating the respective numbers and letters on the pegs and board. Also, this feature of the color regions on the board, and the colored pegs, makes it feasible for a very young child of an age of two or so, to play with the device, since he need merely match the colored pegs with the colored holes. Once he has mastered the matching of the colored pegs with the colored holes, he can then proceed to the next level of trying to match the letters/numbers with the respective holes. In this way, the child's interest in the game, in use of the game, continues over a substantial period of time. As also explained below with respect to particularly preferred embodiments, much more complex spelling and arithmetic functions can be carried out with the present invention, thereby even further extending the time span within which a child will remain interested in and use the educational toy of the invention.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, more complex concepts such as spelling and/or arithmetic functions, can be carried out, with the provision of additional through holes in the board within which the child can insert appropriate pegs to spell words and/or carry out simple arithmetic functions. To facilitate both the spelling and the arithmetic functions, preferred embodiments include an additional set of pegs and corresponding through holes, having vowels and respective arithmetic signs plus (+), minus (-), equal (=), divide (.div.) and multiplication (.times.) at the opposite ends thereof. These vowels and arithmetic symbol pegs are also preferably a different color than the remaining pegs, with correspondingly painted areas of the board adjacent their proper holes, so as to accommodate their identification, the learning of the vowels, and the learning of the mathematical symbols.
According to particularly preferred embodiments of the invention, the letters and numbers are disposed at the respective ends of the pegs so that they are properly positioned in the apertures when the complete board is turned over. In other words, one peg would have the letter "A" at one end and the number "1" at the other end, the row of pegs for the letters B to F have the respective numbers 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 at their opposite ends, etc. This not only facilitates maintenance of the proper arrangement of the pegs in the holes, it also aids in teaching the child the concept of the general relative position within the alphabet which each letter occupies. By the combination of features according to preferred embodiments, wherein a letter not only has a position, it also has a color, and a number, the child can reinforce and strengthen his/her grasp of the alphabet, as well as of the numbers. Also, the relative order of the letters with respect to one another, for example, in the middle part of the alphabet, can be very well reinforced and learned using the educational toy of the invention, a skill which can greatly aid later in searching in dictionaries, and the like where items are arranged alphabetically.
In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, included are different shaped cross-sections for the holes and corresponding pegs insertable therein, whereby the children can also associate the shape with the respective letters/numbers/vowels/arithmetic symbols. In these preferred embodiments, rather than providing separate through holes for the performance of spelling and arithmetic steps, a slot is provided having a dimensional width corresponding to the maximum width dimension of the respective pegs, so as to accommodate the different cross-sectional shapes thereof.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are also contemplated for use by persons who are blind. In these embodiments, the indicia for the numbers and letters are imprinted in braille on the pegs and on the board. Additionally, it is contemplated that braille indicia be given for the various different colored regions of the board so as to accommodate the full range of adaptability of the educational toy for use in educating blind children.
In particularly preferred embodiments of the invention, the board is made from a single block of material, preferably wood, fiberglass, or strong plastic, which block of material has a thickness greater than one-half inch (1/2") and preferably greater than one inch (1") whereby the board is very strong and rugged, capable of standing long and vigorous use by children of all ages and is able to stand on edge. Also, in particularly preferred embodiments, the pegs are in the form of right circular cylinders with flat end surfaces, with a diameter greater than 1/4 inch so that the children, even very young children, can readily manipulate the same, and so that further the pegs can stand freely on a flat surface by themselves, thereby accommodating arrangement of the pegs with all of the letters, or with all of the numbers, facing upwardly, preliminary to them being placed in the holes in the board. In particularly preferred embodiments, the pegs have a length dimension greater than the thickness of the board so that they protrude upwardly therefrom when in position on the board with the board laying on a table or backing surface, but with the length being less than twice the thickness of the board. In a particularly preferred dimensional arrangement, the board is 11/2 inches in thickness, the holes are one inch in diameter, and the pegs are slightly less than one inch in diameter and are 21/2 inches long. While the above-noted dimensions are most preferable, "pocket-sized" versions for use by older children are contemplated according to other embodiments.
According to certain other preferred embodiments of the invention, the pegs for each set of one color the pegs which correspond to one similarly colored row or portion of the board are arranged in different lengths in a step-like manner, so as to accommodate proper positioning of the pegs even by children who do not yet recognize the letter and/or numerical indicia at the board and the pegs.
The various preferred embodiments of the present invention all exhibit the features of simplicity, ruggedness and adaptability to amuse and teach a wide range of ability and age group levels.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.